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The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association has filed suit against San Francisco in response to a right-to-know ordinance it passed guaranteeing consumers information about how much electromagnetic radiation their cell phones were exposing them to.

The press policy documents, obtained by Margaret Munro of Postmedia News, reveal scientists must get permission to talk to the press — and climate science and oil sands are off limits. Any statements on those topics must be approved by political appointees at the ministerial level.

The owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded, resulting in the April 2010 Gulf oil spill disaster, is refusing to provide safety documents or a spokesperson to testify to a federal investigative panel.

The revised policy puts the onus on political appointees as well as scientists, declares a presumption of openness in public access to scientific information generated at the agency, and affirms the right of scientific employees to talk to news media and investigative agencies.

SEJ was one of the groups that opposed HR 801, a bill by House Judiciary Chairman John H. Conyers which would allow private journal publishers to copyright scientific articles based on federally funded research.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration withholds data about pipeline condition and inspections, meaning pipeline explosions caused by preventable and fixable corrosion are far more likely to kill Americans than any caused by terrorists.

Despite the new, apparently unwritten law against digging journalistically into the impacts of the spill, there are information resources here that may help you dig into other oil/environment stories as well.